Compliments by Mari K. Cicero Read Free Book Online Page A

Stephens. I’m being distracted by Hawk Stephens. I’m attracted to Hawk Stephens. What all of that amounts to is … I’m in trouble.
    I dive back toward the couch and my bag, and begin shoving my things away. I have to get out of here and fast. “I think I get it now,” I say, my words a slow boil that is more about the disappointment in myself than anything he’s said. “Thanks for the pointers. Yeah, deflect and redirect. I can do that.”
    From the corner of my eye, I see him kneel down beside me, wearing confusion across his face. “Robin, I was just acting the part, trying to help you practice. If I said something that really upset you by accident, I’m sorry.”
    “It’s not that,” I murmur, refusing to look at him. “I just remembered that I have a paper due tomorrow and I need time to work on it. It isn’t anything about what you said. I already love your hair.”
    He lays his hands over mine and stops me from moving any more. I’m finally forced to look at him, and the tenderness and fear I see there overwhelms me.
    “What happened?” he asks. “I want to make this right with you. Just let me know what I did.”
    What can I say? Sorry, Hawk, but I’m actually pissed at you for being so wonderful that I have to leave now before I blurt it out? Thank you for helping me, now please let me go before I do something I regret? Reaching into my stockade of disassociating phrases I’ve relied on over the years, I pull out the most diplomatic one.
    “It’s not you, it’s me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
    Unfortunately, he doesn’t let me slip away with that. His hands go to my arms, turning me toward him. We’re both on our knees by the couch, and I think for a moment how pitiful—or culpable—we’d look if someone came into the shipping room.
    “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll respect that. But, please, if I said anything, you’ve got to tell me. I don’t like to leave things unresolved. I’ve learned from experience that bad things can happen when I do.”
    My eyes lock to his. It’s like he has a tractor beam on the truth within me; he draws it out too easily.
    “What’s wrong is that I gave myself a chance to be attracted to you.”
    He hesitates for only a moment, but it feels like the compression of eternity. When he finally kisses me, it isn’t with the gentle tenderness his eyes held a moment before. It’s hard, determined, and purposeful. He’s yelling at me with his lips, his kiss telling me not to be stupid and that there’s nothing wrong with what I’ve done. I feel myself solidify for a moment when our mouths first meet, but my misgivings melt away and before I know it, I’m kissing him back. His hands lower as his arms go around me, embracing me, drawing my body to his.
    When I feel him begin to push me back against the couch, however, reality smacks me into the here and now. My eyes shoot open as I push him away.
    “No, I can’t do this.”
    His rapid breaths make his words raspy. “You can. Quite well, I might add.”
    I roll my eyes as I shoot to my feet, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. “This won’t happen again. I’m not coming here again. I don’t want this. I can’t do this.”
    “Robin, I—”
    I don’t give him a chance to finish. The sound of his voice dies away as the door closes behind me and I take off running down the hall.

|-4+10|

    I’m probably being overly cautious, but for the next week, I’m certain to be out of the building for the day by five o’clock. As it is, I’m glad I never had occasion to give him my cell phone number. He’s tried emailing a few times, but his words are always short and formal. I don’t know what I expect to happen if I see Hawk again, but I don’t trust myself to take a chance at finding out. One thing’s for certain, I won’t be kissing him again. Nope. Not ever. Not going to happen.
    On Wednesday morning, just as I’m collecting my things to head home for the day, I feel the